Emissary of the Goddess Bast
by Lady Discord
Summary: The so-called “catwomen” have existed since the beginning of time. Here is the story of one of the first. The story of MANIYA. Inspired by the 2004 movie “Catwoman” starring Halle Berry.


Born a slave, from parents coming from generations of slaves and servants, Maniya had been sold from one master to another after her parents died –or were killed, she didn't really know, since that happened when she was of a very young age. When she turned fifteen, fortune smiled upon her, and she was freed from slavery by a kind, elderly woman by the name of Delasa, who took her as a servant in the royal palace of Babylon, after the girl's former master –an acquaintance of the woman's– passed away. Delasa gave her a basic education, teaching her to read and write, and for three years she had done all sorts of chores that were meant to ease the already facile life of the so-called superior class of society.

She had never been abused or mistreated by any of her masters and for a slave, and afterwards a servant, she had lived a decent life. But although she was of a kind and submissive nature, always hurrying to do whatever she was asked to do and swallowing without retorting, the sometimes cruel and unfounded accusations and complaints of her masters, she had always felt like something was wrong, like she was not doing precisely what she would like to do. At one point she had had a dream of becoming a priestess, but it was shattered by Delasa, who told her that only women of noble ancestry could occupy such a privileged position.

Now these memories made her smile. Society did not allow her to fulfill her dream of becoming a priestess, but fate offered her a life like few are destined to live. She could never forget the very first event that marked the beginning of her transition from her old life to her new one, namely the present one. Of course, at that time, she paid no attention to it, for she could have not possibly imagined what life had in store for her.

She was in the bazaar one morning, sitting on a stone bench near a fountain, when a woman approached her. She was a tall, thin woman, with pale skin, long, curly, light-brown hair and eyes like two emerald stones; she was a beautiful woman, although she might have already passed the age of fifty. She was dressed in a sleeveless, black, silk dress that touched the ground and wore exquisite jewelry –earrings, necklace and bracelets. She had a golden shawl over her shoulders, but no veil covering her hair, which attracted disapproving glances from most of the women who passed by.

The woman, who introduced herself as Nadira, seemed preoccupied by the girl's sorrow and as the two started talking, the girl, who felt the need to take the burden from her heart, confessed her misfortune. She told the woman about how she would never be able to fulfill her dream of being a priestess, but the woman simply smiled and told her something she would always remember, though at the time it only deepened her suffering, for it sounded completely implausible.

"Sometimes when the gods don't give us what we want is because they have prepared for us something greater than we could ever imagine."

Then, Nadira got up from the bench where she had sat next to the girl, and before leaving, gave her a silver pendant, representing the profile of a sited cat.

"Keep this close and it will fulfill your innermost desires."

After her meeting with Nadira, the girl remained puzzled for a while, but that feeling lasted only until she resumed her daily chores at the palace and by the time the sun disappeared behind the hills into a pool of reddish light, she had forgotten all about it. Morning came soon and the girl leaped out of bed as soon as the first rays of light made their way inside her small, deplorable and almost empty bedchamber. She rapidly put on the gray, stripped dress and cream-colored veil she always wore and was about to exit the room when the insistent mewing of a cat made her approach the only window of her room, with no curtains, no grating, no shutters –just a square shaped hole in the wall.

On a higher ledge on the opposite building there was a cat, looking down directly at the girl and mewing as if asking for help. It was Nasmat, one of Bast's sacred cats, but the girl did not know that back then and considered it just an ordinary cat.

"Kitty, what's wrong?" she asked from the window. "Come down from there."

But the cat wouldn't move and continued to mew at her.

"Come on, it's easy. Just jump on that beam over there. It's right below you," the girl pointed towards a beam coming out of the wall.

"What, are you stuck?" she asked when she saw that nothing would make the cat come down. "Don't make me come after you," she sighed deeply seeing how the cat kept mewing at her.

Gathering the little courage she had in her, the girl climbed out of the window onto a beam coming out of the wall, about two feet below. Praying to all the gods she knew, the girl stretched out her arms to maintain her balance and with small and very insecure steps she walked across the beam till she reached its end. Every inch of her body was shaking violently, knowing that there was a thirty feet distance to the ground, but she was looking straight forward, trying not to make any wrong moves.

When she reached the end of the beam she realized that in order to get to the cat, she would have to jump forward and grab onto an upper beam, coming out of the wall in front of her. She cringed at the thought, and regretted her decision, wanting to go back but something inside her urged her to go on, not to mention the cat who seemed to be crying for help with her mewing. Putting her faith in the hands of the gods, the girl jumped with her arms stretched forward, in order to grab the beam. Unfortunately, she had forgot to take into consideration the ten feet distance between the two beams, plus the fact that her dress was too tight for her to make such a jump, and she fell about three feet down, when she somehow managed to grab onto another beam below. She hanged from the beam for a while, until her sweaty hands could not hold on anymore and she fell again, screaming. Luckily, she landed on a canopy that served as a roof for the market place that stretched along the narrows alleys between the buildings, but as soon as she made a move the linen tore apart and the girl fell flat on her face on the dusty, stone pathway. Groaning in pain and still shaking with fear, the girl slowly raised her head from the ground when she heard the cat's mewing, which, this time, sounded as if it was coming from somewhere very close. Pulling aside the strings of her messy hair that fell over her eyes, she blinked a couple of times in total stupefaction when she saw the cat standing a few feet away from her.

"Kitty? How did you …… ?"

Finding herself at a loss of words caused by the state she was in, the girl instinctively looked upwards, towards the ledge where she had first seen the cat. Though it took her a fraction of a second to do this, when she looked back down, the cat was nowhere to be seen.

**A couple of days later …**

"You stole it. Admit it!" a tall, skinny woman, with a wrinkled face, dressed in elegant robes and wearing excessive jewelry and a turban on her head, also adorned with gold and precious jewels, barked at Maniya, who was dressed very poorly and looked nothing like her present self.

"No! I swear, mistress. It is mine. A gift," the scared girl tried to defend herself, clutching in her hand the pendant, representing the profile of a sited cat, which a mysterious woman by the name of Nadira had given her and which she now wore at her neck, on a string made of thin rope.

"You cannot possibly expect me to believe the lies of a pathetic servant. Guards! Guards!" she yelled with all her strength and two guards rushed into the room. "This servant has been caught stealing from the king's treasury. Take her to the dungeons and give her the proper punishment, then lock her up."

Hearing this, Maniya entered a state of utter shock, that preventing her from reacting in any way, or even thinking. She knew very well knew that anyone caught stealing had their right hand caught off, but if she was accused of stealing form the king himself, then it was very likely she could be hanged afterwards. As she saw the guars approaching, their eyes glistening with fury, Maniya did the only thing that her instincts told her to do, she ran. Bursting through a smaller door, hidden by red curtains, at the other side of the room, Maniya reached a corridor along which she ran desperately, as fast as she could, striving to outrun the two stronger men.

Turning left and right, looking back at the guards rather then where she was going, fate made it so that she reached a balcony, from which it was impossible to escape. Desperate as she was, seeing the guards approaching rapidly and shouting at her, Maniya made an attempt to straddle the banister, not knowing herself how she could escape if the ground was barely visible from the impressive height where she stood. The banister, however, proved to be very difficult to straddle for someone who wore a long dress, not vaporous like silk but rough and tight like a sack.

But just as she sat there on the banister, one leg almost over it and the other hanging in the air, she heard a familiar sound, a mewing. Looking above the archway door of the balcony, she saw sitting above it, on a girder, the cat she had once tried to rescue and which afterwards disappeared without a trace. The cat was looking straight at her and mewing insistently, which distracted Maniya's attention and she did not hear one guard shouting Stop right there, thief or see the other aiming his bow at her and releasing an arrow that did not hit her, but swished past her ear, which, ironically, proved to be fatal for her.

She instinctively threw her head backwards to avoid being hit, but unconsciously she also removed her hand from the banister, thus loosing her balance. Her heart was pounding furiously, her entire being was filled with a terrifying fear and her eyes swum in tears when she felt her body slipping backwards and her hands could no longer reach the banister and grab hold of it. Still gazing at the cat that was now starring back in silence, she whispered desperately with trembling lips "Help me!" and then she fell.

The guards rushed to the banister and looked down, watching the girl's body smashing against a sharp rock, then bouncing off it and falling down on another one, and so on until it felt into the river that passed near the palace, in that more remote area of the city, near the defensive walls.

Warm, golden rays of the sun invaded the small chamber, filling it with soft, morning light. Maniya frowned when the rays tickled her eyes, disturbing her from her slumber. Without opening them, she stretched her arms and afterwards proceeded to turn on her right side, only that, when she did so, she found herself slipping down from what she thought to be her bed, and collapsing to the ground from a height of six feet. She woke up on the spot and jumped to her feet, looking perplexed.

The place from which she had fallen was a supporting wooden grind, where apparently she had been sleeping. Casting a glance at the floor just bellow the window she noticed her usual outfit lying there, soaking wet and full of mud. She, on the other hand, was shinning clean, her skin and hair carrying a sent of sweet perfumes. But what astonished her the most were her clothes, all colourful and silky and rather revealing. The silver pendant now hang at her neck on a exquisitely designed silver chain and she also wore earrings, bracelets and rings made gold or silver, and adorned with precious gems.

The sound of footsteps outside her door made her turn and as she was starring at the door concentrated, wondering who was approaching and would probably enter her room, for a brief moment, something odd happened. She thought she had seen, through the door, the shinning white form, like an aura, of the person approaching. Before she could ponder on it further, the door burst open and Delasa entered, looking very concerned.

"Maniya, what has …… ?" she began but was struck dumb upon seeing the girl's new appearance. "Dear me, what is this? Where did you get all of these? Gods be merciful, you didn't …… steal them, did you?"

"Aaaa ……," Maniya was also speechless, realising she had absolutely no memory of how she came to possess such expensive belongings. "I …… don't know."

"Where were you yesterday? I was so worried. I had to make preparations for the celebration and ……," Delasa began but was interrupted by Maniya, who all of a sudden remembered she also had important chores to do for the summer solstice celebration that took place at the palace.

"The celebration! I almost forgot," Maniya shouted and ran to the door, but was stopped by Delasa.

"Where are you going?"

"There is still much to be done and so little time before the celebration begins."

"My dear, the celebration was yesterday," Delasa explained to her, puzzled by her attitude.

Maniya starred at her, looking very confused, when suddenly, she once again heard the familiar mew. Running to the window and looking down in the street below she saw the same cat she had once attempted to rescue, looking back at her. Possibly out of the desperate need to find some answers, Maniya left the room in a hurry, pushing past Delasa without saying a word, and ran into the street, searching for the cat, which had once again vanished from sight. The mewing rang again in her ears and she immediately knew where to look to find the cat. She saw it at the end of the alley, sitting on a basket. The dizziness and anxiety that possessed her body prevented her from wondering how she had been able to hear so clearly the mewing of the cat, when there was a great distance between the two of them, and the alley packed with stalls and counters was crowded with people buying and selling, walking about and making great tumult.

Following the cat further on, Maniya did not realize when she had reached the more sumptuous neighborhoods of the city, situated in the vicinity of the Great Tower. She ran after it through narrow, winding streets, then came to a stop after making a left turn and finding herself before the beautifully decorated entrance doors of one of the mansions in the area, the cat once again being out of sight. She pondered for a while, hopping to hear the cat again, but nothing happened this time, except for the doors opening just as she was about to head back. Curiosity made her approach and she saw that there was no one there who could have opened them. Stepping over the threshold she entered a small interior court decorated in a mixture of Arabian and Egyptian styles, with arabesques, coloured tiles and mosaics. In the middle there was a fountain, and on the sides many flowerpots adorned the court, some of them accommodating trailing plants, which stretched on the pillars that were supporting the balcony above.

"I've been expecting you," Maniya heard a woman's voice speaking to her left, as she was gazing upwards at the exceptionally carved screen windows, and the coloured, transparent curtains.

"Nadira?" said Maniya, recognizing the woman who nodded in response.

"I knew you would come, when you were ready."

"What do you mean?" the girl frowned in confusion.

"Follow me."

The girl did as told and they both entered a even more beautifully adorned room, with chairs, sofas, a low table and bookcases, on the ground as well as on a high wooden platform, for the room was as tall as two. The stone walls were of a simple cream colour, but the multicoloured drapes, curtains and flowers, as well as some simple green plants, compensated for the lack of tiles. However, what really surprised Maniya was the great number of cats, about fifteen, that moved across the room or simply laid somewhere on a comfortable cushion. Even more bizarre, when she entered the room, all the cats rushed to her, mewing and fawning on her. Only one cat stood still, looking straight at her, the one she had been following.

"Her name is Nasmat. She is a Mau, a rare Egyptian breed," Nadira explained as she walked towards the staircase that led to the platform. Maniya walked behind her and stopped when she stopped, in front of a shelf upon which there was a statuette of a woman with the head of a cat.

"The Egyptian goddess Bast," Nadira began to tell her. "The Maus are sacred to Bast, they are her messengers. Bast is a rarity, goddess of the moon, and of the sun. She represents the duality in all women: docile, yet aggressive, nurturing, yet ferocious."

"But, why are you telling me all this? What has it got to do with me, I mean ……?" Maniya was both impressed and confused.

"What happened the other night?" Nadira interrupted her, surprising her at the same time with her question.

"I …… don't remember."

"Do you want me to tell you?"

"Yes," Maniya said promptly, very eager to see what the response would be, to find out answers, both concerning her situation, and concerning the woman who seemed to know more about her than she herself knew.

"You died," Nadira gave her a simple answer, but one that shook her entire being.

"What? …… I didn't die, I mean look at me, I'm right here," Maniya could not prevent herself from laughing at the absurdity of the words the woman had uttered.

"You died ……, but you were reborn."

"Oh, you're crazy! You are crazy cat lady," Maniya spoke frightened this time, seeing how Nadira stuck firmly to her explanation and starred at her very oddly, with wide opened eyes.

"Bast knew your fate. That's why she tested you, to see if you were worthy of a gift she could give you, a gift that could change your life ……," as she spoke, Nadira approached Maniya with slow paces, while the girl backed away in fear, until she reached the edge of the platform, for there was no banister, only six cylindrical pillars that connected the ceiling with the floor bellow. " …… and give you a new one," the woman concluded just as Maniya turned to face her again, and stretched her right arm towards Maniya's chest, pushing her gently, but enough to make the girl loose her balance and fall.

What followed was something that amazed Maniya beyond words. While she was falling, without even realising it, she turned in mid air and landed safely on all fours, imitating perfectly the graceful moves of a feline. Forgetting even to stand up, she looked back at Nadira, and even though she found herself incapable to compose a single phrase, her pleading eyes desperately demanded an explanation.

"You're not alone child. There have been others before you," Nadira told her, hoping to calm her down and make her accept things as they were.

"What has happened to me?"

"The goddess Bast has chosen you to be her emissary on earth, to do what she commands and in so doing assuring the triumph of light over darkness, of justice over lawfulness, bringing order where there is chaos and maintaining the natural balance of things, without which our world would fall apart," Nadira spoke while descending the staircase and coming to stand in front of Maniya, who had also stood up from the floor.

"You speak of the impossible. This is not a task to be appointed to a common mortal."

"But you are no longer a common mortal. You died as a common mortal, but you were reborn as a child of the Goddess of Light, who has passed on to you some of her most precious gifts. You are no more tied to this world."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you are not contained by the rules of society. You follow your own desires. This is both a blessing and a curse. You will often be alone and misunderstood, but you will experience a freedom other women will never know. You are a daughter of Bast and therefore possess some of her most powerful attributes: every sight, every smell, every sound, incredibly heightened, fierce and independent, total confidence, inhuman reflexes."

"So, I'm not Maniya anymore?" she asked on a trembling voice.

"You are Maniya …… ," she began and then she walked to a nearby table from which she took something covered in a black cloth, which she held with both hands in front of Maniya as she continued " …… and you are a daughter of Bast."

Removing the cloth with one hand she revealed a beautiful and rather delicate looking sword, with a thin, curved blade and a golden hilt, shaped in form of the goddess Bast, a woman in a tight, long dress, with the head of a cat and her arms crossed over her chest.

"This is the sword that only the emissary of Bast may carry. Now it is yours. It is your destiny." Nadira looked into Maniya's eyes for a brief moment and saw that she was still frightened. "Accept it child. You spent a lifetime caged. By accepting who you are, all of who you are, you can be free …… and freedom is power."

"I have never held a sword before," Maniya reached forth reluctantly to touch the weapon.

"Bast is your mother and your protector. A part of her is within you, guiding your every move, and you will often find yourself doing things you had, so far, not even thought possible."

Maniya took the sword in her hands and as she examined it she also tried to put everything together, to better understand what had happened to her and most importantly, what was to become of her. Then she realised something and looked up to Nadira full of sorrow.

"Where am I to go? I cannot go back, resume my old life."

"I too am a servant of Bast, and therefore, a servant of her daughter. Whatever is mine, from now on is also yours. The daughter of Bast is welcome to call my house her own, for as long as she wishes."


End file.
